RadWillie

Hi All,

So I took my 02 ES300 this past weekend to dealer for routine service. They found a small leak coming from driver side axle seal (service manager took me to service bay and tech showed me the leak). They quoted me $450 minus 10% discount for parts and labor, to replace the seal. Their price sounds too steep. My question is, what is a reasonable price I should expect to pay to have this done at a non dealer shop? Thanks!

-RadWillie

LeX2K

I don't think that's totally unreasonable given the work involved. I'm sure you could find an independent tech to do it for say $100 less. You have to remove the axle to get to the seal, which means removing the brake components, remove the tie rod at least, possibly the strut bolts.

The seal itself can be difficult to remove as well.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Is the leak coming out of the transaxle? It's a one hour job. I've replaced my driver side axle and it was very straight forward. Replacing the seal isn't that much more difficult.

LeX2K

Depends on how easily the seal comes out. I've done the job before and the seal would absolutely not come out without removing the seal housing from the transmission. It also took a lot force to press the seal back in using a vice, no way I could have hammered it back in without damaging something.

RadWillie

Thanks for the replies guys. What amount of tranny fluid do you guesstimate is lost during the seal replacement? If I decide to go with an independent shop I want to have the Type IV fluid on hand for them to top off accordingly. I'm going to reach out to a transmission shop I've used in the past for other cars and get a quote from them, and maybe another shop to compare.

KLF

I think those seals leak from the factory, especially on the driver's side. I had to replace that one in my '98, and my '05 is weeping.

How bad is the leak? If it's not leaving any drips on the garage floor, I'd just leave it alone. OTOH, if it's like my daughter's Corolla, and marking it's territory every time you park it, then ya get it fixed. It does take a few special tools and a loooong pry bar to pop the axle out of the housing, but it's not too bad. I think $450 is too much, I think my daughter was quoted $200 at a local place that she trusts.

RadWillie

It's about 2 drops or so, every other day. I just called a local shop who specializes in Toyota. Waiting on call back with quote.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

When i had someone fix the same issue (but on a 4runner) they charged $350. For a dealer, that quote doesn't seem bad at all. Its just hard to pay 500 bucks to fix 2 drips a day

RadWillie

Yea, that is why I'm looking for a better quote. I definitely want to fix it and a cheaper price would be nice. Whatever $ I save myself on this fix is going to be used towards replacing the timing belt and front seals.

RadWillie

Just received call back from the shop. Owner quoted $245 + tax to replace the driver's side axle seal . I also inquired about the timing belt and he quoted me $500 + tax (OEM parts, including replacement of cam and crank seals). Seems like a great deal on both. I scheduled the appointment for the axle for this Saturday. This shop specializes in toyota/lexus.